FAQs for Asylum Seekers

The Right to Remain Toolkit contains a great deal of useful information on the asylum process in the UK

Here is a link to a page on the UK government website with some additional useful information.

If you are receiving asylum support from the Home Office, your housing provider should assist you with registering with a GP.

The Home Office can help you with transportation to a hospital appointment if it is more than three miles away.

Asylum seekers can apply for permission to work after their claim has been pending with the Home Office for more than a year.

If granted, asylum seekers can only work in jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). It is important to make sure that you are allowed to work in the job you would like to do; otherwise, you could be considered breaking the law. If you are not sure, speak to your legal representative.

Yes, asylum seekers are permitted to study. However, many courses in adult education, such as those at the Stockton Learning & Skills Service and Stockton Riverside College, are only available for free to people whose claims have been pending with the Home Office for more than six months.

Refugees are free to study without restriction.

Yes, asylum seekers are permitted to volunteer, as long as the following are adhered to:

• there should be no payment, other than reasonable travel and meals expenditure actually incurred (not an allowance for the same)

• there should be no contractual obligations on the volunteer and they should not enjoy any contractual entitlement to any work or benefits

• the volunteer is helping a registered voluntary or charitable organisation, an organisation that raises funds for either of these, or a public sector organisation

• volunteering is not a substitute for employment, that is fulfilling a role that a salaried worker would normally fulfil 

If it is a medical emergency, phone 999. If it is not a medical emergency, where to get help depends on the severity of the problem. For certain problems, it is best to contact your GP practice. You can get help for other problems by visiting a local pharmacy. If you are not sure what kind of help you need, you can contact 111 by phone or use their online service.

NEMP has some leaflets that might be helpful, along with translations in multiple languages.

If you are registered with a GP, you should contact them first to discuss your symptoms and see if they can offer any appropriate treatment.

Barnardo's run a Boloh helpline for asylum seekers.

The Helpline will offer advice, signposting, emotional support and 8 free sessions of therapy by qualified Barnardo’s therapists. These sessions can take place remotely via telephone or online. Barnardo’s has a long history of providing mental health support to children, young people and adults and has a large pool of culturally informed therapists who speak a range of languages. Sessions can take place in your own language at a time that works for you.

You can also find a number of resources listed on the Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's webpage on Support for people with mental health needs.

If you are registered with a GP, you should contact them to see if they can help you with the problem or suggest dentists in the area who can help.

Have you received an HC2 certificate for full help with health costs? If not, the Arrival Medical Practice or the Red Cross can support you to complete a form, if required.

You can find more information about legal support here. 

If you already have a legal representative, you cannot seek advice from another advisor or solicitor because this is a conflict of interest and they are not allowed to do so.

The Regional Refugee Forum can link people to support from their own language community. People can make contact with refugees living in the area who speak the same language, have shared the same challenges and provide support for their community. They Regional Refugee Forum can be contacted Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm by email at suraiya.riyaz@refugeevoices.org.uk or by phone, WhatsApp, or text at 07407 804539.

You can find more information about ARC Cards here. 

It is impossible to say when your main asylum interview will take place. Some people get an invitation for their interview quite quickly, and for others, it can take quite a long time.

It is also generally not possible to request an interview to be expedited. If you believe that you have experienced an excessive delay, you should speak to your legal representative. However, keep in mind that there are significant delays in asylum case working at the Home Office as a result of a backlog from COVID-19 and strain resulting from the war in Ukraine.

To report problems with asylum accommodation, contact Migrant Help. They run a free asylum helpline available 24/7/365 and is accessible to all asylum seekers in the UK. The number is 0808 8010 503. Migrant Help will liaise with the accommodation provider on the asylum seeker's behalf to address these issues. If you need help from a support worker to ring Migrant Help, they will need to complete a consent form and send it to consent@migranthelpuk.org. Help can also be contacted by the webchat or service user portal available on their website.

Migrant Help will need the asylum seeker's Home Office reference number and full details (name, nationality, date of birth) to help them over the phone.

Any issues with accommodation must be raised through Migrant Help. Migrant Help log the call and make sure the housing provider resolves the issue within the contractual agreement times. By contacting the housing provider directly, this does not happen, and they have no accountability to resolve the issue within the required timeframe. 

There is also a Home Office Guide to Living in dispersal accommodation which may be helpful, and should have been provided during your induction by your housing provider.

To register your children for education in Stockton, you can:

• Contact Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Early Help service

They will provide family support for new arrivals and help you register at a school.

Phone: 01642 527225 (Help Point) or 01642 524188 (Early Help Admin Support).

Email: fis@stockton.gov.uk

• Ask your Welfare Officer or Housing Manger to contact the appropriate people on your behalf

The Welfare Officer or Housing Manager will be able to ask for a school application to be sent out to you.

• Visit your local school

The school will able to assist you with registering for a place if they have available spaces.

• Complete a school application form

You may also be able to register your children for education by completing a School application form and forwarding it to the School Admissions Team at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. They will contact the school on your behalf. To discuss this with schools admissions ring 01642 526605 or email school.admissions@stockton.gov.uk.

All children in reception, year 1 and year 2 will automatically get Free School Meals. For children in nursery, years 3 to 6, or secondary school, you can apply for Free School Meals here https://www.stockton.gov.uk/children-and-young-people/schools/school-meals/ and clicking ‘apply online for free school meals’. You will need a valid email address to create an account and make an application. You can also ask your Welfare Officer or Housing Manager to help you.

You should first try contacting the school to see if they have any schemes in place.

If they are unable to help, you can also find a spreadsheet of local pre-loved uniform schemes here.

You can also contact the Red Cross who have limited funds available:

• Red Cross will be at the Stockton Baptist Church Monday drop-in for support between 1:30pm and 2:30pm

• Red Cross Stockton can also be contacted on 07713 385268 via call, WhatsApp or text

The Mary Thompson Fund may also be able to support with money for school uniform (and school trips if required). They can be contacted through Justice First at 01642 601122.

If it is an emergency, or if anyone is in any danger, call 999.

If it is not an emergency, you can call 101; you can also report at your local police station or online.

If you're deaf or hard of hearing, use the text phone service 18000, or text 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergency SMS service. They also have an app available called COPA (Cleveland Online Policing App).

You can also attend a Third Party Reporting Centre. These are totally independent of the police and give a safe place to report a hate crime or incident. Further information, advice, and an interactive map of Third Party Reporting Centres can be found at: https://www.cleveland.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/hco/hate-crime/how-to-report-hate-crime/

You can report hate crime online via True Vision at https://www.report-it.org.uk/home.

They can also attend a third party reporting centre (COVID restrictions may limit some services). A full list and further information can be found at https://www.cleveland.pcc.police.uk/how-can-we-help/problems/hate-crime/.

Information about perpetrators can be passed anonymously to Crime stoppers via Tel 0800 555 111 or online at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously.

Contact Migrant Help for help with problems with ASPEN cards. They also have their own FAQ page on ASPEN cards which might help.

If you have a legal representative, you should contact them first.

If you do not have one, you can contact Justice First at info@justicefirst.org or +44 (0) 1642 601122.